Canada's interim naval oiler M/V Asterix (updates)

[Haijun watcher]

More people realizing that Canada should have converted both Asterix and her sister ship as more permanent AORs and cancelling the Protecteur replacements. However, they also conveniently overlook the fact that Asterix and Obelix were built to Mercantile standards and are probably not as survivable as the JSS/AORs:

CBC News

Navy missed a chance to get its new resupply ships at a much lower price, PBO suggests
Yves Giroux acknowledges his analysis would have been more useful years ago
Murray Brewster � CBC News � Posted: Nov 17, 2020 4:36 PM ET | Last Updated: November 18
A portion of the navy's new joint support ship under construction at the Vancouver Shipyard in October 2019. (Contributed/Seaspan)
Converting two civilian cargo ships to serve as resupply vessels for the navy would have been cheaper than building new ones, Canada's parliamentary budget officer has determined.
PBO Yves Giroux conceded that the advice is coming late � that it would have been more helpful to Parliamentarians and the general public had it come years ago, before the federal government signed a contract over the summer with Seaspan for the $4.1 billion construction of two joint support ships (JSS) at the Vancouver Shipyard.
But what are you going to do?
The Parliamentary Budget Office investigates at the behest of MPs � and it was only asked last June by the House of Commons standing committee on government operations and estimates to review the costs of the naval shipbuilding program. (The previous, long-standing forecast was that the navy could get two purpose-built supply ships for $3.4 billion, but that sum quietly increased late last spring.)

(...EDITED)

[Haijun watcher]

Canadian Press/Prince George Citizen

Two supply ships alone not enough to ensure navy can resupply fleets: documents
The Canadian Press
NOVEMBER 25, 2020 11:26 AM

OTTAWA � Newly released documents show the navy will need help resupplying its fleets at sea even after two multibillion-dollar support vessels are built.
The documents obtained by The Canadian Press show that the navy plans to rely on Chantier Davie's MV Asterix and allies to ensure there is no "capability gap" even after the two new joint support ships are finished in next few years.

Canada originally planned to buy three new navy support ships when it launched the project more than a decade ago, but cost overruns saw the order cut down to two. The vessels are being built in Vancouver at a combined cost of $4 billion.
Yet navy officials have continued to indicate that two support ships are not enough to meet the maritime force's long-term needs, as the government�s policy requires the military be able to operate two fleets at sea at the same time.

The fear is that the navy will be hamstrung whenever one of the two so-called joint support ships is out of commission, either for repairs or for some other reason.

(...EDITED)

[Haijun watcher]

At the rate they're utilizing her, they might as well commission her "HMCS Asterix" instead of the RFA-like status he has now:

Ottawa Citizen

Canadian Navy using leased supply ship more often � contract boosted by $71 million
The initial contract for use of MV Asterix over a five-year period had been set at $620 million.
Author of the article:
David Pugliese � Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date:
Jan 30, 2021 � 15 hours ago � 3 minute read
The Canadian military is using a leased supply ship more than it planned and will spend an extra $71 million to keep using the vessel at sea.
The ship, the MV Asterix, was at the heart of the failed legal case against Vice Adm. Mark Norman, who had argued for leasing the supply vessel because of ongoing delays in the program to construct two other supply ships for the navy.

Asterix is being leased from Federal Fleet Services, a company associated with Davie Shipbuilding in Quebec, and has been operating in support of the Royal Canadian Navy since 2018.
Asterix was an existing commercial vessel con
(...SNIPPED)